Have A Good Trip

If you are planning to use psychedelic drugs for the first time, or after a prolonged period off, or if you just get a little apprehensive about tripping and want to make sure you have the best positive experience, then a little planning can make all the difference. There are lots of resources out there that can help guide your journey and give you tools to cope with any bad energy that may arise. Since everyone’s goals for using psychedelic drugs are different, you will find a plethora of different literaure, online forums and spiritual gurus to help make your journey uniquely you. But for those just beginning their journey, it’s important to have a certain comfortability with the new headspace. I was particularly impressed by the thought and effort and dedication apparent by the folks responsible for the Trip Buddy app and creators of badtripguide.com. Whether you are preparing for a psychedelic adventure, in need of some visual mid-trip stimuli or inadvertently find your trip taking a turn for the worse, the Trip Buddy app has something for you.

For many people unfamiliar or inexperienced with psychedelics, the fear of what’s been popularly dubbed a “bad trip” can sometimes overwhelm the experience. Since fatality is extremely rare with psychedelic drugs, bad trips are the primary focus of psychedelic harm reduction. When they do occur, it’s most likely the manifestation of someone’s deteriorated mental state while feeling uncomfortable in their trip. If properly recognized and addressed by the user and his trip buddies, any harmful actions can most likely be avoided. In all of the hundreds of times I’ve tripped on everything from LSD to DMT to every research chemical under the sun, I’ve never once had a bad trip. Since a psychedelic trip is primarily based in your head, I’m convinced the outcome is due to the mental state of the tripper when beginning the trip. This makes framing your mental state critical to having a successful trip (and overall good time!). This article will help someone new to hallucinogens have the best trip possible and will give you a good groundwork for what to focus on when preparing for a psychedelic trip.

Here is my two cents… Whether your goal is spiritual enlightenment, human connection, close encounters in the 4th dimension or self awareness, the ultimate goal for everybody should be to have a positive experience, or fun – if you will. While some of the substances we deal with can have a darker side to them, to varying degrees, we take them to ultimately gain something valuable. I’ve had some trips that have had negative aspects, but they were necessary for the trip as a whole to be successful. Keep in mind, you most likely arent going to see green elves or spiders coming out of your eyes (like I’ve heard some people think will happen when tripping). For the most part, a trip alters your mental perceptions with subtle visual hallucinations. You will most likely still have all your wits, meaning you’ll still know where and who you are. If you feel the trip taking a bad turn, remind yourself that you are under the influence of a powerul drug (or drugs) and tell your trip buddy how you are feeling. Together with the right attitude you should be able to turn your trip around and hopefully even gain something from the experience.

Notice that I prefaced your probable experience (“you most likely will or won’t…”) There are exceptions when you start playing with Ultimate Psychedelics. I’ve had some trips when experimenting with extreme doses or routes of administration or types of drugs or drug combos that would buckle the knees (at best) of someone less experienced, or more importantly, comfortable with hallucinations. Like all drugs, dosage is key to a successful trip. Don’t try to impress anyone. Only take what you are comfortable taking and what you are sure you can handle. Any imbalance could set the mood for your entire trip.

If you always remember that fun is ultimate goal and plan your entire trip to maximize that fun, you shouldn’t have any problems. There are people who believe all trips should be with the purpose of spiritual enlightenment, or whatever their end game is. If that’s not your thing, don’t subscribe to it and don’t let anyone make you feel inadequate or less of a psychonaut for not being on their same page. Trip for your own reasons. Don’t stress or over think it. Recreational drugs are there to have fun, bottom line. Anything beyond that is an added bonus. Don’t let anyone cramp your fun! It’s your trip! It’s your psychedelic world – everyone else is just tripping in it! Have fun! See you in the 4th dimension!!

Since you’re reading this I will assume that you already know that drugs carry risks and spare you most of the requisite warnings and finger-waving. You’re here because you know this and have most likely already made your decision to embark on one of these bizarre and wonderful journeys into a state of altered perception. The remainder of this page is a guide that should help you plan your adventure for safety and success.

WARNING:

This site is for personal entertainment and educational use ONLY. The creator of this site is will not be held responsible for the actions of those who read it. We are all adults here, any decision made by you is YOUR responsibility. If you are under 21 years of age you must leave this site immediately. By continuing down the page you agree to hold the creator and maintainer of this site harmless in any actions or damages resulting from the use or misuse of information contained herein.

Understanding the nature of a psychedelic “trip”

A psychedelic drug-induced trip can make you feel as if your senses are awakening to a new way of interpreting the world around you, the experience feels quite honest and real and at the same time quite foreign. Maybe it is real or maybe it isn’t, this is your decision to make. The point here is that from our current sober perspective, the things we are aware of that define our existence are the sensory impulses from the environment as translated by our brains, and our own minds and thoughts. These are the things in the foreground through most of our waking lives. We are used to having a large degree of consistency in both how we experience the world, as well as what we think and feel. If you look, you can see the consistency in the patterns of thoughts and feelings that we experience from day to day.

When you embark on a psychedelic trip you are taking those two things that define your daily existence (thought and experience) and turning them upside down. You’re senses no longer “feel” the same as they have always felt before and your mind no longer seems to function the same way as it always has before. You will think of things you have never thought of before, you may also feel things you have never felt before. Normal, everyday common sense and logic can go flying out the window and cease to make sense. It is from this unfamiliarity that fear can creep in and a bad trip can begin, but it is also from this freshness and purity of experience that you can “step outside of yourself” and see things in a whole new way. If this is your first time then you may have no point of reference for this experience, the closest thing would be dreaming.

To sum it up, be prepared for anything, and be 100% confident in what you do because once the ride begins, there’s no getting off early. Don’t let this scare you though, because any trip that goes ‘bad’ can also be brought back to ‘good’. Adequate preparation and focus can easily accomplish this.

So what’s the plan, Stan?

Now is the time to begin planning for your experience. Here is a basic skeleton from which to design your own plan. There are some important steps here so don’t get lazy. You must safeguard both your mind and your body.

1. For what purpose will you be tripping? (Why?)

This is important for planning. A spiritual trip requires a different environment than a recreational one. A creative trip is usually found in lighter doses than the other types. Different drugs have different effects. Once you know WHY, you can then choose HOW. If you are not sure, ask yourself the question “Why do I want to trip?”, then write that answer down (or remember it) and ask “Why?” to the answer. Repeat these steps until you have a solid understanding of your reasons. This requires a good degree of honesty to do successfully but it is important.

Example of spiritually rooted reasons:

Why do I want to trip?

Why is it fascinating to me?

Why do I want to understand it?

Why do I want to better understand this place?

and so on….

Because I find the idea fascinating!

Because it is entirely new and different! I want to understand it.

So I can better understand this place in which I exist.

So I can function more effectively and efficiently.

2. What drug are you planning on using? (What? How?)

You had better know more than just it’s name. This step is very important for both your physical and mental well-being. Go to Erowid.org right now and learn everything you can about it. The Lycaeum is also a good place to look. Understand how the drug works in your body. Understand what physiological processes are occurring, creating it’s effects, and understand well how to identify it and gauge your dosage. Are there any drug interactions possible with other meds you are on? Read all of Erowid’s experience vaults for your substance of choice, real people write these and they are invaluable for gaining unique perspectives on the experiences that different drugs can bring to you. Learn from the mistakes of others so you don’t make them yourself. Knowledge is the key to confidence. Confidence is a sturdy and dependable life-line during a psychedelic trip only when rooted deeply in sound knowledge.

Search Google groups to find more experiences, opinions and information. Start with the name of the drug, then refine the search based on the results you see. If nothing is relevant, imagine what it is that you’re searching for and add words that you would expect to see on that page. “LSD experience” for example, or “mushroom come up”

Find a forum about it. Use search phrases like: “mushroom forum” or “LSD forum” and search the results for relevant forums that have lots of members. Forums are fantastic sources of info because you can register and ask questions as well as search through years and years of conversations. I have gained much from forums and I recommend them to everyone for any subject you wish to learn more about. Always remember that they are populated by people unknown to you, so you should use them for direction and not as the final word..

3. Who is taking the trip with you? Are you going it alone? (Who?)

My first trip was solo and it worked out well, so don’t feel that you need to have a partner for your first time. An experienced buddy can spice up your first time tremendously though and help you through any rough spots if you have the need. Make sure that you trust everyone who will come into contact with you and that you will NOT have to pretend to be sober. Be aware of people on different types of drugs. Drunks are a bad mix with people who are tripping. Do not trip around people who are drinking, as they get drunk, their sloppy boisterousness will annoy you as it grows and continuously grabs at your attention. Stick with people that can remain mellow and composed. Show anyone who will be joining you this site and let them plan alongside you.

4. Where will you do it? Inside? Outside? Day? Night? (Where?)

This is very important. Your environment WILL largely dictate the overall mood of your trip. 90% of bad trips are the result of a bad environment. When you are tripping, you are experiencing a series of chain reactions of thought, so you must identify everything that can trigger a negative reaction and remove it from the experience. To select your environment, first decide how you need to feel to achieve your purpose for tripping. Then ask yourself what places make you feel this way. Once you know where, get specific. What items will be around? What imagery, sounds, music, textures, colors, etc. Focus on each one in